Balloon catheters require either liquid or gaseous inflation fluids and are used in a variety of medical applications such as angioplasty, embolectomy, intra-aortic balloon pumping, pulmonary capillary wedge pressure measurement, stent deployment, thermodilution cardiac output, thrombectomy, urinary drainage, and temporary vascular occlusion to prevent atheroembolization. Except for the temporary occlusion balloon, catheter balloons are conveniently inflated and deflated using manual syringes or automatic pumping apparatuses attachable to conventional fittings at the catheters' proximal ends. However, temporary occlusion balloons, and especially distal protection devices (DPDs) advantageously comprise an elongate, slender shaft that may also be used as a guidewire to direct interventional catheters to a treatment site within a patient's vasculature. While the DPD balloon is inflated distal to a treatment site to block the flow of potentially contaminated blood, another catheter can be passed over the DPD shaft proximal end and slid onto the shaft. To accomplish this maneuver, a DPD cannot use a conventional fitting at the catheter's proximal end because such fittings are too large to allow another catheter to pass over them.
Specialized inflation systems have been developed for DPDs, including several low-profile valve designs and corresponding, removable inflation apparatuses. However, current DPD inflation systems can be awkward to use, requiring that numerous steps be carried out meticulously. Therefore, it would be desirable to provide system and method for providing distal protection that overcomes the aforementioned and other disadvantages. The present system and methods advance the state of the art.